Little girl marries her best friend in fairy tale ceremony after being diagnosed with terminal cancer

A young girl from Aberdeen with a terminal illness has managed to cross a big thing off her bucket list, by ‘marrying’ her best friend.

Eileidh Paterson is just five years old and has neuroblastoma, a cancer of specialised nerve cells. After learning that her illness was terminal, he made her own bucket list detailing all the things she wanted to experience, and marrying her friend Harrison Grier was top of the list.

With the support of local community, friends and family, she wed Harrison, aged six, at a special ceremony in a local meeting room, attended by all her favourite story characters and hundreds of other well-wishers.

Instead of rings, the happy couple exchanged necklaces, and were married by Eileidh’s favourite fairy, Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, who pronounced them ‘best friends forever’ at the altar.

Instead of vows, guests were read a story of Eileidh’s short life, in the style of a fairy tale. It was written by her mother Gail, who named the disease the ‘evil beast’.

The sweet ceremony was fitting for a little girl whom her mother calls ‘a princess who will stop at nothing to survive,’ and everyone present was truly moved by the experience.

Father of the groom Billy Grier told Metro: ‘Harrison had never been to a wedding before, so this was all new to him. But it was a beautiful ceremony and he enjoyed every minute. He was quite excited to do it. Ever since he met Eileidh, they have been inseparable.’

‘I think he knew what was going on. He certainly knew how important it was to her and wanted to do whatever he could for her.’

Eileidh’s mum has also created a GoFundMe page to help fulfil her daughter’s other bucket list wishes, including decorating her bedroom bright pink, and a trip to Disneyland Paris.

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‘We want the remaining time with Eileidh to be as special as possible & allow her to experience as many things as she can,’ she writes.

‘Eileidh deserves to have the world & if we can give her a fraction of that, then we will. Please help us to create as many memories & allow her to enjoy as ‘normal’ a childhood as she can.’